Banks to have internal ombudsman to hear customers complaints

In the interest of consumers, the Reserve Bank of India has asked all public sector and large private banks to appoint internal ombudsman.

"The internal ombudsman would be designated Chief Customer Service Officer (CCSO)," it said, adding the CCSO should not have worked in the bank in which he/she is appointed as CCSO.

The central bank said it has taken this initiative "to further boost the quality of customer service and to ensure that there is undivided attention to resolution of customer complaints in banks".

The RBI had introduced the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) in 1995 to provide an expeditious and inexpensive forum to bank customers for resolution of complaints relating to deficiency in banking services.

While all public sector banks will have to appoint a CCSO, the private sector and foreign banks which have been asked to make the appointment include: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank N.A. and HSBC.

The private and foreign banks have been selected on the basis of their asset size, and business mix, among other parameters.

RBI is yet to release guidelines on how the CCSO will work, but said the internal ombudsman will be a forum available to a bank’s customers for grievance redressal before they approach RBI’s banking ombudsman.

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